Pope Meets Georgian Orthodox, at a Religious Distance

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Published: November 9, 1999

TBILISI, Georgia, Nov. 8—
Pope John Paul II met with the patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church today in an encounter that visibly illustrated the lingering obstacles to the pope's longtime dream of reconciling the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy.

The pope spoke of his fervent desire to promote reconciliation between the two churches, which have been divided since the schism of 1054. Patriarch Ilia II, the Georgian prelate, who addressed the pope solely as a visiting head of state, avoided any mention of religious reconciliation. When the patriarch spoke of deepening ''friendly relations,'' he said he hoped that it would happen not between churches but ''between our countries.''

In an odd reversal of roles, it was President Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister, who, at an airport greeting ceremony, spoke in religious terms, invoking ''the Holy Mother.'' Mr. Shevardnadze was baptized in the Orthodox Church in 1992. It was he who pressed for this papal visit, and persuaded the patriarch to consent.

In his welcoming speech, the patriarch sounded like a senior government official intent on painting the Roman Catholic leader's visit as a foreign policy coup. Saying the visit ''proves our country aspires to a connection with Europe,'' the patriarch said he hoped that the pope's presence would ''help place Georgia on a high international level.''

The two leaders issued a joint statement condemning the rise of violence and terrorism in the Caucasus region.

The 79-year-old pope, visibly tired and shivering in the cold winds of Georgia, flew from India to Tbilisi to make his second visit to a predominantly Orthodox country. But it seems likely that Georgia will not provide the kind of breakthrough he achieved in Romania in May, when he was the first pope to visit an Orthodox country in more than 1,000 years. There, he rode in his glass-enclosed vehicle through a church square with Patriarch Teoctist at his side. The two leaders set a historic precedent by holding joint prayer services at each other's churches.

The Georgian patriarch, who took the pope to an 11th-century Orthodox cathedral, thanked him for his role in ''the process that led to the collapse of the system that rejected God in former socialist lands.'' He did not pray with him. The Georgian Church has instructed its followers not to attend the pope's Mass at a sports stadium on Tuesday.

''From Romania we learned that the joint services provoked a lot of tension, including among the bishops,'' the Rev. David Sharashenidze, the spokesman for the patriarchate, said shortly before the pope and patriarch were due to deliver speeches there. ''The canon law of the Orthodox Church does not permit us to celebrate Mass together.''

A priest in St. Nino's Church told a local newspaper that it would be a ''sin'' for Orthodox believers to attend a papal Mass.

Twenty years ago, the pope first began talking about reconciling the Eastern and Western churches before the end of the millennium. As recently as last January, on his way to Mexico, he told reporters that he wanted to go to Moscow. But the Russian Orthodox Church has rejected any ecumenical discussions with the Vatican.

Shortly before the pope arrived in Georgia, the Russian Orthodox patriarch, Aleksy II, once again said he would not meet with the pope if he came at the government's invitation. He said the Georgian Church was free to do as it pleased, but then warned, ''They must realize the consequence of their steps.''

The enmity between Rome and the Georgian Orthodox Church is not as deep as that with Moscow. Besides the core theological disputes over such principles as the primacy and infallibility of the pope, the Russian Orthodox Church is battling with the Roman Catholic Church over property, especially in Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox leaders suspect the Vatican of seeking to convert Orthodox believers using Eastern Rite Catholic churches that are loyal to Rome. But even in Georgia, where Catholics make up less than 2 percent of the population, Catholic missionaries and aid workers are viewed with suspicion as proselytizers.

Many Georgian bishops mistrust interfaith dialogue. Patriarch Ilia, who served as one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches from 1979 to 1983, was forced to abandon ecumenical activities. In 1997 the Holy Synod voted to withdraw from the World Council and the European Council of Churches.

The patriarch voiced some of his church's concerns to the pope today. The two men sat side by side underneath candle-lit icon frescoes inside the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, where hundreds of Catholics and some Orthodox believers had gathered to witness the historic occasion, many of them mobbing the altar area and nearly crushing a few cardinals for a closer view.

Patriarch Ilia listed many of the economic and social problems afflicting Georgia, and included ''various kinds of sects and religious movements from foreign countries.'' He accused them of ''setting up 'so-called humanitarian aid' and 'charitable' organizations to try to proselytize and persuade the religiously uneducated, needy population to become their members.''

The patriarch was apparently referring to Protestant evangelical ministries and other missionary movements, which are the bane of Orthodox churches throughout the former Soviet Union, but it was nonetheless a less than tactful remark. In Tbilisi, the pope is staying at a newly completed Catholic shelter for the homeless, which he will dedicate to Mother Teresa of Calcutta on Tuesday.

John Paul II, who fell ill in Poland last summer and was forced to cancel a visit to the deathbed of Catholicos Karekin I, the Armenian patriarch, seemed determined today to keep the momentum of Romania going in Georgia.

''I assure you that my representative in Georgia will make every effort to foster this relationship of cooperation and understanding,'' he told the patriarch. ''He knows how much this means to the Bishop of Rome. No matter how difficult the path of reconciliation, we must implore the Holy Spirit to bring to completion what we, in obedience to the Lord, seek to make possible.''

Photo: President Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia embracing Pope John Paul II yesterday at the airport in Tbilisi. (Associated Press)